TOXICITY IDENTIFICATION AND CONFIRMATIONOF METAL PLATTING WASTEWATER

Abstract

Toxicity of metal plating wastewater was evaluated by using acute toxicity tests on Daphnia magna. To identify toxicants of metal plating wastewater, several manipulations such as solid phase extraction (SPE), ion exchange and graduated pH adjustment were used. The SPE test had no significant effect on baseline toxicity, suggesting absence of toxic non-polar organics in metal plating wastewater. However, anion exchange largely decreased the baseline toxicity by 88%, indicating the causative toxicants were inorganic anions. Considering high concentration of chromium in metal plating wastewater, it is thought the anion is Cr(VI) species. Graduated pH test showing independence of the toxicity on pH change strongly supports this assumption. However, as revealed by toxicity confirmation experiment, the initial toxicity of metal plating wastewater (24-h TU = 435) was not explained only by Cr(VI) (24-h TU = 725 at 280 mg L-1). Addition of nickel (29.5 mg L-1) and copper (26.5 mg L-1) largely decreased the chromium toxicity up to 417 TU, indicating antagonistic interaction between heavy metals. This heavy metal interaction was successfully predicted by an equation of 24-h TU = 3.67 × ln([Cu] + [Ni]) + 79.44 at a fixed concentration of chromium.